Canadian Health Care...Is Moving Toward Privatization

If the Canadian health care system is sooooo WONDERFUL, why are they moving toward privatization? Under their system (on which most of the Democratic Bills are being based on), it can take months if not years to get non-emergency surgery. The same system is in place in the United Kingdom.

Here's a recent example from British Columbia. A young woman named Christina Woodkey began to develop severe pain in her legs. It became so severe she couldn't do any of the those things that she had been able to do, like hiking, cross-country skiing. When she went to her local health clinic, the Calgary, Canada, resident was told she had to see a specialist. Unfortunately, because her problem wasn't life-threatening, she was told she'd have to wait at least a year BEFORE she could have elective surgery. Surgery that would improve her quality of life...after all, she was in pain day in, day out, but that surgery was considered ELECTIVE. So wait she did.

In January of this year, the hip replacement specialist told her that as it was a narrowing of the spine which was compressing the nerves and thus causing her serious pain. She was then told that she needed to see a back specialist. Her first appointment was set for Sept. 30, NINE MONTHS AFTER HER DIAGNOSIS.

"When I was given that date, I asked when could I expect to have surgery," said Woodkey, 72. "They said it would be a year and a half after I had seen this doctor."

So early this month, she crossed the border and went to a clinic in Montana and had the $50,000 surgery done in two days, in an American hospital.

"I don't have insurance. We're not allowed to have private health insurance in Canada," Woodkey said. "It's not going to be easy to come up with the money. But I'm happy to say the pain is almost all gone."

In Canada, private insurance is against the law and therefore unavailable. But, to get around the system, approximately 70 private clinics have been set up in British Columbia and Ontario to provide those "simple" things that the Canadian system refuses to provide in a timely fashion...things like MRI's and minor surgery. These procedures are provided in as little as a few weeks as opposed to the normal wait time of 9-12 months for most procedures.

This is the system that the Democratic Party wants to impose on America. It's a system that is predicated on your having to wait for health care that we are accustomed to receiving without any (or only a few weeks) time at all. Are there problems with our health care system? Certainly, but by removing the obstacles that are in place at the moment, such as removing the barriers that prevent health insurance providers from providing health insurance across state borders. Also by permitting small businesses to band together and pool their individual resources, so that more companies or even individuals can get affordable insurance.

Unfortunately, these are "market based" reforms and thus are despised by the socialist wing of the Democratic Party...these are the suggestions that have been put forward countless times in the past decade by the Republican Party, yet have been stymied by the left, because we all know the government can do things more efficiently than private industry.